A photo of a circular letter from the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) wentviral on social media on Thursday.
The letter dated May 15, 2017 with no. SE28/V/2017 mentioned a ban for BIN staff to grow beard and wear trousers above the ankles.
BIN SpokespersonSundawan Salya later confirmed the validityof the letter. Nevertheless, Sundawan said the letter was intended for internal audience.
"This is part of the BIN's (internal) affairs, not a public consumption. We have a code of ethics and rules in every agency," said Sundawan.
He added that the agency will find the person who published the letter to the public.
"The person who published the letter [to public] is obviously guilty, we'll find who leaked it," closed him.
While we don't know why BIN needed to impose the dresscode, some people think that the new rules might be a sign of intolerance against those who are devoted to Islam, as maintaining beard and wearing baggy trousers above the ankles are widely associated to Muslim tradition.
Twitter user @udatauhid, for example, said "Doesnt they have more important things to do than thinking about the employees beard? Even some national heroes had beard."
Another user,@eM_Farid, said Only in Indonesia, the intelligence are afraid of beard.
(brl/red)
